Saturday, February 28, 2015

Drawing is one of my favourite passions, especially when using fantastic pencils like Faber Castel's Polychromos range. I have been drawing lots recently, but like all my art, I like it to be useful. I like to create art in three dimensions, and this means some new art paper doll designs.

The pair I have started off with are steampunk inspired and I wanted to create two distinct dolls. I also wanted to create to different ways to decorate the dolls. One set is decorated in rustic brown shades in colour, but not lots of colour. The other set is Zentangle Inspired Art. The soothing nature of tangling applied to the doll designs was lots of fun.

I created the dolls to have interchangeable limbs and to be fully poseable.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

I have been interested in Zentangle designs for a while. They looked so clever and dramatic. I wanted to learn about how to do it but I was not sure about the way to do this. I have read a couple of reviews about "A Zentangle A Day" by Beckah Krahula and decided to give it a go. The reviews said it was a good tool for focusing your art quickly and for improving your practice. An the result for me - it is really good.

First things first - to recognise the creators. The Zentangle® Method is an
easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by
drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria
Thomas. "Zentangle" is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn
more at zentangle.com.

The book "A Zentangle A Day" is arranged in daily lessons. When I got this book last week I decided to read and follow the lessons as I have heard this was a good idea. And it was. The lessons help you develop the basics really quickly and you can see yourself developing the skill.

I was critical and sceptical in using the book. I was not sure if it would be good. But I am really happy with the results over the last week. I noted the dates on my tangles and they do seem to be developing, plus the major benefit to me which was being able to put myself in the arty "zone" really quickly. I reckon this book is a great tool and money well spent. I am not sure if I will seek out other Zentangle books but this one is worth it to me.